Bigwil91

What an experience! July 17th I went into a bike shop and left with a Trek 7.6FX, rode it to work everyday, and decided to try this Hotter n Hell. The feeling of accomplishment is unmeasurable. Crossing the finish line to my wife and 2 boys was very emotional. Not to mention, I wrecked pretty bad at the 10 mile mark and was'nt sure i would be able to finish. Took me 6hrs, 22min. I was very unsure how my hybrid would do but it pulled me thru. I think anyone wanting to test their mind over body strenght should try this ride. People were great and lots of fluids and fruits along the way made it possible.

jbarham

Congrats!!!!

dave99ag

Congrats! You chose a great year to do HHH with the milder weather.

topflightpro

That's awesome.

I did HHH in 2006. It never dropped below 98 degrees the night before and hit 104 by 10 a.m. They shut Hell's gate about two hours early. I had to do the shortened route. A couple of my buddies had gotten there just in time and did the full 100 - one of them didn't ride his bike for 6 months after that. It was pretty miserable.

rdk409

Congrats! This year was my second time and it still felt great to pass through that finish line...

sh00k

congrats and nice bike!

Will G

Thank for bringing up that nasty flashback!! That was my first HHH and we started way too far back in the crowd and didn't even hit the start line for 45 minutes after the gun fired so we didn't make the Hell's Gate cutoff time. Probably saved me from doing something really stupid like riding 100 miles with a 107 degree heat index.

Bigwil, nicely done. How did you crash?

rdtompki

Very brave of you all who ride this. I realize we all sign waivers prior to an organized ride, but this appears to have potential to be quite dangerous.

rishardh

Congrats the OP. I did the 2006 ride too. Sweared never to do it as I was driving home with a fever. The next day I was thinking of how to train for the next year to better my time.

lotek 

Congratulations!
Sorry you went down but glad to hear you were okay enough to finish the full 100, in respectable
time!
ah yes, 2006. I spent a good 1/2 hour in the medical tent outside Sheppard AFB getting rehydrated
and eating spicy pickles, wasn't so bad that I needed an IV but I was cramping pretty bad.
I've missed the last 2 years, was working (teaching diving class) this year and last year I was
in Milano. Next year I'm back, come hell(s gate) or high water.
HHH isn't that bad, once you consider that this year had 14,200 participants (according to Wichita Falls news). The only place it's truly dangerous is the start, and first 2 or 3 miles.

Marty

Mr. Beanz

6:22 on a hybrid? Must be an easy flat ride.

bob the nailer

Yea it was mild, the temp at the time I finished was 84 degrees, it is usually 84 at the start. Also very little wind, and it was following wind last 30 mi or so. I took advantage of the cool weather to do my first non stop 100, after multiple previous hhh with anywhere from 1-4 stops. 4h33min. There were quite a few crashes, probably due to the large crowd and fast pace. Don't know if there were any serious injuries. For those of you who have not done it it is fairly flat, a few gentle rollers, usually it is the weather, either heat or wind or both, that is the major obstacle.

Erik B

We rolled by some crashes that looked pretty bad.

I have never seen so many people slow down so much, for so little, climb wise.


Congrats on the non-stop. How many bottles?

bob the nailer

Actually only three prepared, two polar bottles of eload and one polar bottle of accelerade. Had not really planned to go non stop, was thinking of stopping at about mile 70, but was in a nice fast pack and couldn't bring myself to let it go. Was able to pick up a hand up bottle in the feed zone at about mile 75 of water which got me through to the finish. Although it helped me to finish, I have to question the wisdom of handing up bottles to citizens, the road was littered with dropped bottles, the poor guy in front of me went down on one of them. I would disagree with the comment above that the first three miles are the only really dangerous part. I think if you are riding in a pack, the closer you get to the finish, the more tired everyone gets, they let their attention slip for just a minute and somebody goes down, I narrowly missed getting taken out 2 miles from the end, going up that overpass where the traffic cones make cars go left and bikes go right, some yahoo cuts right in front of me, missed my front tire by millimeters.

c0lnago

The whole ride is dangerous...14000+ people, tons of new riders, tons of people not keeping their lines, swinging wide, fighting for lines like it was the closing 50m at the Tour, aero bars everywhere, low riders with no flags, etc. etc. Totally false to say you're in the clear past the first few miles.

HAMMER MAN

good stuff, congrats!

PurpleFender

+1000

I've never seen so many clip on aero bars in my life. I wish these people would learn how to use the drops so that they can have some control on their line.

bob the nailer

I would also add that I think as you get faster, and ride with faster groups, you are actually probably safer because you are riding with more experienced people who have more time under their belts riding in close proximity. I was in a group that varied from 50-100 people the last 40 mi or so, there was no one riding aero bars, everyone basically doing a good job of holding in line, minimal "slinky" effect. So as with a lot of problems mentioned here the solution is simply "HTFU"

StephenH

It is in fact an easy flat ride, except for the heat, which didn't show up this time. And being a falt easy ride is one thing that makes it popular. Actually, there's several little hills, but all in all, it's flatter than a lot of the Dallas area charity rides. Even the hilliest rides here in North Texas are a whole bunch of little hills, you don't have anything like the mountain climbs that you show in your pictures.

martymc

+1

The further I rode in the HH100, the more cautious I got. There were SO many wrecks -- wrecks, that if you were immediately behind them, could not avoid. Lots of wobbly pacelines, lots of accordion lines, lots of people bleeding/banged-up really bad.

I totally agree that the closer you got to the end, the more absent minded people got. I was ultra defensive until I unclipped after the finish line.

martymc

+1

Was absolutely amazing for me to see what appeared to be otherwise good cyclists holding 22-26mph come out of the saddle on short 4-5% grade climbs and start hammering like it was Ventoux.... only to slow down to around 16-18 and fall off the line.

'Guess it's what you're used to.

Halfast

The watermelon stop, and the free beer, sausage and beans at mile 98 make any effort worth it! Had 4 beers there and finished with 17.0 ave without the insane pacelining. Best run atheletic event I have ever attended!! Done it for the last 3 years!, only been riding 4 years.

ok_commuter

I don't know about easy, but flat? It's like riding on your dining room table. The 2nd largest climb is a hwy overpass.

That's all 2nd hand regarding the exact route - I was talking to somebody on Sunday's ride that has done it a bunch of times - but I know that part of Texas really well. He made it sound like a really fun time.

The weather was best case scenario considering the summer we've had. Everybody I talked to had a great time. Nice finishing time on a hybrid!

Yakapo

My first HHH as well. I did the 100k. I made some big mistakes... I skipped breakfast b/c we were running late. I also did not fill my water bottles b/c I assumed we could just fill them at the starting line. We ended up jumping in a little after the start so we had no water / food until the first rest stop.

I had a great time - however next time, I'm going to ride w/ someone who's a little slower. I don't have as much fun when I'm out of breath half the time.

My biggest problem was neck pain during the last 15 or 20 miles. I'm not used to the posture yet.

Yakapo

oh ya, I slept about 4.5 hours the night before... I'm not sure it was a good idea to stay with an old friend that I hadn't seen in years.

on a different note...
I think I waited about 20 min in a restroom line at one stop.